Police workforce

Published 4 October 2019

Last updated 28 August 2020 - see all updates

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• at the end of March 2019, 93.1% of police officers were from the White ethnic group and 6.9% were from other ethnic groups
• 4.0% of senior officers were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups combined, compared with 2.8% in 2007
• between 2007 and 2019, the total percentage of police officers from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups went up from 3.9% to 6.9%
• according to the 2011 Census, 86% of people in England and Wales were White and 14% were from other ethnic groups

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

This data shows the ethnic breakdown of the police workforce in England and Wales. It comes from the records for the 43 police forces in England and Wales, and the British Transport Police.

The data comes from a snapshot taken on 31 March every year. It focuses on police officers, but the analysis ‘By ethnicity and role’ looks at the whole police workforce.

Figures are based on 'full-time equivalent' (FTE) staff numbers. For example, someone who works 2.5 days a week has an FTE of 0.5.

Figures are shown separately for special constables, who are volunteers and not counted as part of the police workforce.

Population estimates come from the 2011 Census.

Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.

Not included in the data

The data does not include staff whose ethnicity wasn’t known. In 2019, ethnicity wasn’t known for:

• 3% of police officers
• 3% of the total police workforce
• 10% of special constables

Since the British Transport Police covers the whole of England and Wales, a rate per population per region has not been calculated.

The ethnic groups used in the data

Staff working for the police in England and Wales report their own ethnicity based on the following 5 aggregated ethnic groups:

• Asian
• Black
• Mixed
• White
• Other ethnic group (including Chinese)

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document (PDF, 740KB, 26 pages) (PDF opens in a new window or tab) for this data.

3. By ethnicity (police officers)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Percentage and number of police officers, and percentage of the overall population (at 2011 Census), by ethnicity

Ethnicity	% of police officers	% of population	Number of full time police officers
Asian	2.9	6.8	3,475
Black	1.2	3.3	1,492
Mixed	2.1	2.2	2,473
White	93.1	86.0	111,695
Other including Chinese	0.7	1.7	888
Unknown	N/A*	N/A*	3,148

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Police workforce By ethnicity (police officers) Summary

This data shows that:

• at the end of March 2019, 93.1% of police officers were from the White ethnic group
• 2.9% of police officers were Asian, 2.1% had Mixed ethnicity, 1.2% were Black and 0.7% were from the Other ethnic group

4. By ethnicity over time (police officers)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2007 to 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Percentage and number of police officers by ethnicity over time

	Asian		Black		Mixed		White		Other including Chinese		Unknown
Time	Asian % of police officers	Asian FTE	Black % of police officers	Black FTE	Mixed % of police officers	Mixed FTE	White % of police officers	White FTE	Other inc Chinese % of police officers	Other inc Chinese FTE	Unknown % of police officers	Unknown FTE
2007	1.5	2,111	1.0	1,350	1.0	1,419	96.1	134,372	0.5	632	N/A*	1,999
2008	1.6	2,231	1.0	1,371	1.1	1,525	95.9	134,000	0.5	656	N/A*	1,920
2009	1.7	2,472	1.0	1,427	1.2	1,699	95.6	135,651	0.5	689	N/A*	1,839
2010	1.8	2,607	1.0	1,446	1.3	1,844	95.3	135,293	0.5	745	N/A*	1,799
2011	1.9	2,582	1.0	1,442	1.3	1,838	95.2	130,870	0.5	754	N/A*	1,625
2012	2.0	2,607	1.1	1,420	1.4	1,871	95.0	125,579	0.6	766	N/A*	1,858
2013	2.0	2,563	1.1	1,361	1.5	1,865	94.9	121,086	0.6	749	N/A*	1,961
2014	2.1	2,665	1.1	1,352	1.5	1,922	94.7	119,071	0.6	776	N/A*	2,124
2015	2.2	2,795	1.1	1,373	1.6	2,028	94.4	117,757	0.6	785	N/A*	2,079
2016	2.4	2,881	1.2	1,433	1.7	2,096	94.1	114,437	0.7	808	N/A*	2,411
2017	2.6	3,104	1.2	1,432	1.8	2,185	93.7	112,953	0.7	841	N/A*	2,616
2018	2.7	3,266	1.2	1,424	1.9	2,309	93.4	111,505	0.7	852	N/A*	3,048
2019	2.9	3,475	1.2	1,492	2.1	2,473	93.1	111,695	0.7	888	N/A*	3,148

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Police workforce By ethnicity over time (police officers) Summary

This data shows that:

• between 2007 and 2019, the percentage of police officers who were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups went up
• the biggest increase was in the Asian ethnic group, where the percentage of police officers went up from 1.5% to 2.9%, and the number of full-time equivalent officers rose from 2,111 to 3,475

5. By ethnicity and area (police officers)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Percentage and number of police officers, and percentage of the overall population (at 2011 Census), by ethnicity and police force area

	Asian			Black			Mixed			White			Other including Chinese			Unknown
Geography	Asian % officers	Asian % population	Asian Number of police officers	Black % officers	Black % population	Black Number of police officers	Mixed % officers	Mixed % population	Mixed Number of police officers	White % officers	White % population	White Number of police officers	Other inc Chinese % officers	Other inc Chinese % population	Other inc Chinese Number of police officers	Unknown % officers	Unknown % population	Unknown Number of police officers
All - excluding BTP	2.9	6.8	3,475	1.2	3.3	1,492	2.1	2.2	2,473	93.1	86.0	111,695	0.7	1.7	888	N/A*	N/A*	3,148
Avon & Somerset	0.4	2.1	10	0.4	1.9	10	2.2	1.8	52	96.8	93.3	2,351	0.3	1.0	7	N/A*	N/A*	246
Bedfordshire	5.4	13.2	63	1.5	4.8	17	3.1	3.0	36	90.0	77.5	1,035	0.0	1.4	0	N/A*	N/A*	13
British Transport Police	4.3	N/A*	119	2.6	N/A*	72	2.7	N/A*	74	89.9	N/A*	2,479	0.5	N/A*	14	N/A*	N/A*	85
Cambridgeshire	1.3	4.9	19	0.5	1.3	8	2.0	2.0	29	95.8	90.3	1,372	0.3	1.6	4	N/A*	N/A*	15
Cheshire	0.5	1.2	9	0.3	0.3	5	0.9	1.0	17	98.3	96.9	1,899	0.1	0.5	2	N/A*	N/A*	75
Cleveland	1.0	3.1	12	0.4	0.6	5	0.1	1.0	1	98.3	94.5	1,156	0.2	0.8	2	N/A*	N/A*	22
Cumbria	0.3	0.6	3	0.2	0.1	2	0.6	0.5	7	98.9	98.5	1,123	0.0	0.3	0	N/A*	N/A*	25
Derbyshire	2.0	3.6	36	0.3	1.0	5	0.9	1.4	16	96.6	93.3	1,702	0.2	0.7	3	N/A*	N/A*	5
Devon & Cornwall	0.1	0.7	3	0.3	0.2	6	1.0	0.9	25	98.4	97.5	2,338	0.2	0.6	5	N/A*	N/A*	623
Dorset	0.3	1.4	3	0.2	0.4	2	1.2	1.3	14	98.3	96.0	1,110	0.1	0.8	1	N/A*	N/A*	94
Durham	0.4	0.8	4	0.1	0.2	1	1.1	0.7	12	98.4	97.8	1,098	0.1	0.5	1	N/A*	N/A*	2
Dyfed-Powys	0.2	0.8	2	0.1	0.2	1	0.7	0.6	6	98.9	98.0	905	0.1	0.4	1	N/A*	N/A*	230
Essex	0.4	2.3	11	0.2	2.0	5	1.9	1.6	56	97.4	93.2	2,934	0.2	0.9	7	N/A*	N/A*	58
Gloucestershire	0.8	1.8	8	0.4	0.9	4	1.2	1.5	12	97.5	95.4	1,012	0.2	0.5	2	N/A*	N/A*	35
Greater Manchester	4.0	9.2	254	0.8	2.8	48	2.0	2.3	128	92.7	83.8	5,940	0.6	2.0	36	N/A*	N/A*	38
Gwent	0.9	1.7	11	0.5	0.6	6	0.6	1.0	8	97.7	96.1	1,240	0.3	0.6	4	N/A*	N/A*	40
Hampshire	0.9	3.0	24	0.3	0.9	8	1.3	1.6	33	96.9	93.3	2,518	0.6	1.1	16	N/A*	N/A*	98
Hertfordshire	1.5	5.7	31	0.8	2.8	16	2.1	2.5	43	95.5	87.6	1,902	0.1	1.4	1	N/A*	N/A*	17
Humberside	0.6	1.3	12	0.4	0.5	8	0.6	0.9	12	98.3	96.5	1,844	0.1	0.8	1	N/A*	N/A*	12
Kent	1.3	3.1	47	0.3	1.3	10	1.6	1.6	56	96.5	93.1	3,377	0.3	0.9	9	N/A*	N/A*	54
Lancashire	2.8	7.4	76	0.1	0.4	3	1.9	1.1	52	95.0	90.4	2,620	0.2	0.7	5	N/A*	N/A*	139
Leicestershire	4.9	15.3	87	0.6	2.4	11	2.2	2.0	39	92.2	78.4	1,644	0.1	1.9	2	N/A*	N/A*	47
Lincolnshire	0.5	0.8	5	0.6	0.4	6	0.9	0.9	10	97.9	97.6	1,064	0.2	0.4	2	N/A*	N/A*	9
London, City of	2.4	9.2	18	1.8	2.6	13	2.1	3.9	16	93.4	78.6	688	0.3	5.7	2	N/A*	N/A*	3
Merseyside	0.4	1.4	15	0.5	1.1	18	2.1	1.5	71	96.4	94.5	3,231	0.5	1.6	17	N/A*	N/A*	44
Metropolitan Police	5.9	17.0	1,752	3.5	13.3	1,037	3.5	5.0	1,034	85.0	59.8	25,384	2.2	5.0	659	N/A*	N/A*	570
Norfolk	0.4	1.1	6	0.6	0.5	10	0.9	1.2	15	97.9	96.5	1,550	0.2	0.6	3	N/A*	N/A*	26
North Wales	0.2	0.9	3	0.1	0.2	1	0.6	0.7	9	99.1	97.5	1,419	0.1	0.6	1	N/A*	N/A*	26
North Yorkshire	0.7	1.2	10	0.1	0.5	1	0.9	0.9	12	98.2	96.6	1,338	0.1	0.8	1	N/A*	N/A*	16
Northamptonshire	1.2	3.3	14	0.9	2.4	11	1.6	2.0	19	96.1	91.5	1,092	0.1	0.8	1	N/A*	N/A*	50
Northumbria	0.5	2.7	15	0.1	0.6	3	1.1	0.9	33	98.2	94.6	2,932	0.1	1.3	4	N/A*	N/A*	94
Nottinghamshire	2.4	4.4	46	0.9	2.5	17	1.9	2.8	35	94.6	88.8	1,806	0.3	1.4	5	N/A*	N/A*	27
South Wales	0.7	2.8	20	0.2	1.0	5	1.4	1.4	42	97.4	93.4	2,891	0.3	1.5	9	N/A*	N/A*	20
South Yorkshire	2.0	4.1	46	0.4	1.9	10	1.3	1.5	30	96.3	90.6	2,267	0.1	1.8	2	N/A*	N/A*	14
Staffordshire	1.2	3.2	19	0.4	0.8	7	1.1	1.3	17	97.2	94.1	1,518	0.0	0.7	0	N/A*	N/A*	6
Suffolk	0.3	1.5	4	0.3	0.9	4	2.3	1.7	27	96.8	95.2	1,119	0.2	0.6	2	N/A*	N/A*	17
Surrey	1.3	4.8	24	0.6	1.1	12	2.1	2.1	38	95.3	90.4	1,730	0.6	1.7	10	N/A*	N/A*	67
Sussex	0.4	2.5	11	0.2	0.9	6	1.5	1.9	38	97.4	93.7	2,426	0.3	1.0	9	N/A*	N/A*	139
Thames Valley	1.8	8.5	72	0.6	3.0	25	2.3	2.5	95	94.8	84.6	3,903	0.5	1.4	21	N/A*	N/A*	33
Warwickshire	3.1	4.2	25	0.1	0.8	1	0.9	1.5	7	95.5	92.7	769	0.5	0.9	4	N/A*	N/A*	12
West Mercia	0.9	1.8	18	0.3	0.4	6	1.1	1.1	22	97.6	96.2	1,926	0.1	0.5	2	N/A*	N/A*	15
West Midlands	6.9	18.0	442	1.4	6.0	93	2.5	3.5	159	89.0	70.1	5,734	0.2	2.3	12	N/A*	N/A*	54
West Yorkshire	3.5	12.6	180	0.5	2.1	24	1.6	2.2	83	94.1	81.8	4,826	0.3	1.4	13	N/A*	N/A*	11
Wiltshire	0.6	2.6	6	0.4	0.9	4	0.8	1.4	8	98.0	94.5	963	0.2	0.6	2	N/A*	N/A*	9

^* Not applicable

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Summary of Police workforce By ethnicity and area (police officers) Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2019, the Metropolitan Police had the highest percentage of police officers from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds combined (at 15.0% in total)
• this partly reflects London’s population as a whole, with 40.2% of people coming from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups in the 2011 Census
• in the West Midlands, a total of 11.0% of police officers and 29.9% of the general population came from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups
• in Bedfordshire, 10.0% of police officers and 22.5% of the general population came from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups
• police forces in North Wales, Cumbria and Dyfed-Powys had the smallest percentage of officers from Asian, Black, Mixed or Other backgrounds (at 0.9%, 1.1% and 1.1%), in line with their general population figures

6. By ethnicity and rank over time (police officers)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2007 to 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Percentage and number of police officers by ethnicity and rank (2007 and 2019)

	Asian				Black				Mixed				White				Other including Chinese				Unknown
Rank	Asian % 2007	Asian Number 2007	Asian % 2019	Asian Number 2019	Black % 2007	Black Number 2007	Black % 2019	Black Number 2019	Mixed % 2007	Mixed Number 2007	Mixed % 2019	Mixed Number 2019	White % 2007	White Number 2007	White % 2019	White Number 2019	Other inc Chinese % 2007	Other inc Chinese Number 2007	Other inc Chinese % 2019	Other inc Chinese Number 2019	Unknown % 2007	Unknown Number 2007	Unknown % 2019	Unknown Number 2019
Chief Officer	2.0	4	1.5	3	0.5	1	0.5	1	1.0	2	0.5	1	96.6	196	97.5	192	0.0	0	0.0	0	N/A*	3	N/A*	21
Chief Superintendent	1.3	6	2.6	8	0.6	3	1.0	3	0.6	3	1.3	4	97.2	456	94.8	294	0.2	1	0.3	1	N/A*	0	N/A*	8
Superintendent	1.0	10	1.3	12	0.8	8	1.0	9	0.5	5	1.9	17	97.4	954	95.6	855	0.2	2	0.1	1	N/A*	8	N/A*	23
Chief Inspector	1.0	18	1.6	27	0.5	10	0.7	11	1.2	22	1.4	23	97.2	1,778	96.3	1,618	0.1	2	0.1	2	N/A*	18	N/A*	35
Inspector	1.0	72	2.2	125	0.5	36	0.8	43	0.7	49	1.5	85	97.5	6,790	95.1	5,325	0.2	16	0.4	24	N/A*	69	N/A*	113
Sergeant	1.1	235	2.1	396	0.8	179	0.9	172	0.7	162	1.7	309	97.0	21,026	94.8	17,584	0.3	65	0.5	89	N/A*	283	N/A*	342
Constable	1.6	1,766	3.1	2,929	1.0	1,113	1.4	1,268	1.1	1,176	2.2	2,052	95.7	103,172	92.5	86,413	0.5	546	0.8	776	N/A*	1,618	N/A*	2,691

^* Not applicable

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Summary of Police workforce By ethnicity and rank over time (police officers) Summary

‘Senior officers’ include Chief Officers, Chief Superintendents, Superintendents and Chief Inspectors.

This data shows that:

• at the end of March 2019, there was a higher percentage of police constables from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds combined (7.5%) than senior officers (4.0%)
• between 2007 and 2019, the percentage of constables from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds went up from 4.3% to 7.5% in total
• between 2007 and 2013, the percentage of senior officers from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds went up from 2.8% to 3.9%, and remained stable since

7. By ethnicity and gender over time (police officers)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2007 to 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Number and percentage of police officers by ethnicity and gender (2007 and 2019)

	Female				Male
Ethnicity	Female Number 2007	Female % 2007	Female Number 2019	Female % 2019	Male Number 2007	Male % 2007	Male Number 2019	Male % 2019
Asian	402	1.2	721	2.0	1,709	1.6	2,755	3.3
Black	359	1.1	424	1.2	991	0.9	1,068	1.3
Mixed	393	1.2	729	2.0	1,026	1.0	1,744	2.1
White	31,463	96.1	34,470	94.3	102,909	96.1	77,225	92.5
Other including Chinese	130	0.4	222	0.6	502	0.5	666	0.8
Unknown	371	N/A*	861	N/A*	1,628	N/A*	2,287	N/A*

^* Not applicable

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Summary of Police workforce By ethnicity and gender over time (police officers) Summary

This data shows that:

• at the end of March 2019, there was a higher percentage of male police officers from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds combined (7.5%) than female officers (5.7%)
• between 2007 and 2019, the percentage of male police officers from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic backgrounds went up from 3.9% to 7.5%
• in the same period, the percentage of female officers from the same backgrounds went up from 3.9% to 5.7%

8. By ethnicity and role (whole workforce)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Percentage and number of people in the police workforce, by ethnicity and role

	Police Officer		Police Staff		Community Support Officer		Designated Officer
Ethnicity	Police Officer %	Police Officer Number (FTE) of staff	Police Staff %	Police Staff Number (FTE) of staff	Community Support Officer %	Community Support Officer Number (FTE) of staff	Designated Officer %	Designated Officer Number (FTE) of staff
Asian	2.9	3,475	3.3	2,047	4.5	417	3.2	149
Black	1.2	1,492	2.0	1,238	2.9	267	3.0	139
Mixed	2.1	2,473	1.1	677	1.5	141	1.6	73
White	93.1	111,695	92.9	57,000	90.0	8,361	91.4	4,233
Other including Chinese	0.7	888	0.6	377	1.1	101	0.8	37
Unknown	N/A*	3,148	N/A*	3,074	N/A*	260	N/A*	262

^* Not applicable

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Summary of Police workforce By ethnicity and role (whole workforce) Summary

This data shows that:

• the percentage of people from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds combined working as police officers (6.9%) was lower than all other types of role
• 10.0% of police community support officers were from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds, the highest percentage out of all paid roles

9. By ethnicity (special constables only)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Percentage and number of special constables, and percentage of the overall population (at Census 2011), by ethnicity

Ethnicity	%	% of population (2011)	Number (Headcount) of Special Constables
Asian	5.9	6.8	567
Black	1.8	3.3	173
Mixed	2.1	2.2	197
White	88.9	86.0	8,523
Other including Chinese	1.3	1.7	128
Unknown	N/A*	N/A*	1,052

^* Not applicable

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Summary of Police workforce By ethnicity (special constables only) Summary

Special constables are unpaid volunteers and with no fixed hours. The figures count the total number of special constables regardless of whether they worked part-time or full-time.

This data shows that:

• 11.1% of special constables came from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds combined
• there was more ethnic diversity among special constables than among police officers and other roles

10. Data sources

Source

Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Home Office

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

Ethnicity and gender data is used by police forces as part of diversity monitoring schemes.

11. Download the data

Police Workforce - Spreadsheet (csv) 51 MB

Please note: We have found some errors in this download file. We are working to correct them and will update the file as soon as possible.

Publication release date: 4 October 2019

Updated: 28 August 2020

full page history

1. 28 August 2020 Moved all contextual information to ‘Things you need to know’ and its new subsections. Increased visibility by adding it to the table of contents. Removed any duplication and added links to content about understanding our data. Charts, tables and the data file have not been updated.
2. 3 July 2020 Added an alert to the 'Download the data' section as we've become aware of some errors in the download file.
3. 4 October 2019 Updated with the latest available data (for 2019).

From: Home Office

Previous editions:

1. 14 May 2019
2. 29 June 2018
3. 28 February 2018

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